I like to stay current on what the LC staff are thinking about this whole future of cataloging debate. So, I often check the Library of Congress Professional Guild's future of cataloging web page.
Here's a new addition: "Steroid" Scandal Rocks Major League Libraries by Daniel Cohen. This tongue-in-cheek look at the current discussion is priceless. Gimme some of that street-grade metadata!
Many feel that the cost factor will limit future creation of such “pharmaceutical grade” metadata. According to Library Science experts, the discontinued support of “metadata laboratories” at institutions like the Library of Congress will eventually cause the supply of high quality metadata to dry up. “When you no longer have places like the Library of Congress creating this powerful stuff, you will see the performance of library searching systems come back down to the level that nature intended,” said one anti-metadata activist.
Some commentators feel that the crackdown on high-quality metadata labs is wrongheaded. “We have seen that this stuff works to enhance performance. Why not make the top quality stuff available to everyone? That’s the only way to really level the playing field,” says metadata advocate Harley Trion. “If we close down the labs creating high-quality metadata, you will see widespread adoption of street-quality metadata like social tagging and folksonomies, because that’s all you will be able to get. I’d rather know that my kids were using metadata that is made in a clean lab with experts and quality assurance processes than have them experimenting with street-grade metadata of unknown origin and quality.”
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